


The Stars Within

by Thesherlockednerdfighter



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 10:26:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14494929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thesherlockednerdfighter/pseuds/Thesherlockednerdfighter
Summary: The Astéria are a special group of people with strong bonds to the stars, they hold galaxies within their bodies and the stars speak to them. (Listen idk how to summary)





	The Stars Within

**Author's Note:**

> This is for a fiction writing class I'm taking right now! People said they wanted to read it so I'm posting it here bc idk where else to. This is the first edition and edits/revisions will come later!

“We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins,  
carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains.  
93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames,  
we are all just stars that have people names.” — Nikita Gil

Everyone is made up of stardust, we all carry bits and pieces of the stars with us, but the Astéria have extremely high concentrations of stardust within themselves. They have always had a strong bond with the stars and for centuries the stars have made homes of the Astéria, galaxies have taken shelter in their bodies.  
* * * * * * * *  
Carina was born in a small Astéri village on a cool and windy night during a conjunction of Mars and Venus, even the planets had aligned to welcome her into the world. When Carina’s eyes fluttered opened for the first time it was immediately obvious where she held her galaxies. Instead of dark caramel brown eyes like her mother or golden-flecked hazel eyes like her father, Carina seemed to have infinitely deep pools of swirling blacks and blues with sparkling constellations swimming within. There was no distinction between iris and pupil, just pieces of the night sky happily rooted in her eyes. Where the stars make their home within an Astéri is not hereditary; her father had stars in his heart and coursing through his veins, her mother had stars sprinkled in her hair, her curls shimmering especially bright in the moonlight. It is not often that the stars affect the physical health of the Astéri that are holding them, however, the galaxies in Carina’s eyes had left her unable to see. Soon after she was born her parents took her to the village healer—known to everyone simply as Grandma—for they were worried about Carina’s lack of sight and how it may affect her.  
“Do not fret my children,” Grandma assured them. “The child may not be able to see, but she is not blind. The stars are her eyes…they speak to her…they will guide her.”  
“But Grandma,” Carina’s father worried. “No one in our family understands the stars. The language was lost much earlier in our ancestry.”  
“Like I said before, do not fret. I will teach the child.” Grandma looked upon Carina with a loving smile and kind eyes. “She has been given a great gift, it is rare for the stars to take hold in the eyes, they will show her great things.”  
Carina spent most of her childhood days in Grandma’s house in the middle of the village, sitting cross-legged on the floor while Grandma braided her dark curly hair. Grandma told Carina’s parents she would teach Carina the language of the stars but really the stars were teaching Carina through Grandma. Every day Carina and Grandma would sit and listen to what the stars had to say and Grandma would translate. By age ten Carina had been able to understand most of what the stars would say without Grandma’s translations. She loved listening to the stars talk, the voices reminded her of what she imagined fairies would sound like, light and airy. And the language was very melodic, no matter what the stars were saying it sounded like singing a lullaby or a soft love song. Carina was also extremely fascinated in the healer work Grandma would do, the herbs always smelled wonderful and the sounds the colorful crystals made clinking together in Grandma’s bag were almost like a little music box. Carina had a never-ending list of questions, “What are you mixing together now? What herb is that? What does that do? Does it matter what order you mix everything together?” And Grandma would always find time to answer her and best explain exactly what she was doing. Over the years Grandma gradually included Carina in the healer work and anytime someone came in needing help, Carina would begin gathering the tools and ingredients before Grandma had time to ask. The only time, it seemed, that an Astéri was not able to be healed was when the stars were leaving them. The Astéri and their stars were very closely intertwined and when the Astéri’s body got too old and frail to support the stars, the galaxies within them would return to the skies and their physical bodies would return to stardust. Carina dedicated the next ten years of her life working together with her stars and Grandma to help anyone and everyone in the village and every night she excitedly told her parents all the new things she had learned.  
One night as Carina lay in her bed drifting to sleep, listening to the sweet sound of the stars, she heard a faint voice say, “Grandma.” As the voice grew louder it sounded distraught, “Fading…Grandma is fading.” She bolted upright in her bed in a panic. “No. No. This can’t be happening right now.” Carina grabbed her jacket and ran out the front door towards Grandma’s house. She opened the door and with her hand against the wall, felt her way into Grandma’s bedroom.  
“Carina?” Grandma said faintly. “What are you doing here?”  
“The stars said you were fading. I came to help. I came to heal you.”  
“Child, you know I can’t be healed.”  
“I have to try. I can’t let you go. You can’t go!” Carina begged with tears in her eyes.  
“Carina.” Grandma grabbed her shaking hand and kissed her palm.  
Carina wiped the tears from her cheek and felt her way to the healing cabinet, she brushed her fingers along the bottom shelf until she felt the canvas of the crystal bag. She returned to Grandma’s side and placed the crystals around Grandma’s head on the pillow and the last two on each of Grandma’s closed eyes just as she had been taught. Carina kneeled by the bed and, holding Grandma’s hand, sang to her the same lullaby Grandma used to sing when she braided Carina’s hair as a child. Once she felt Grandma’s body turn to stardust she put the crystals away and returned home. But she couldn't sleep.  
* * * * * * * *  
A week after the stars left Grandma, Carina had cried out all her tears and finally reemerged from her room. She grabbed the scissors from the kitchen and asked her mother to cut her hair for her.  
“But sweetie you have such nice long curls,” her mother protested. “It would be a shame to chop them off.”  
“It is too difficult for me to take care of such long hair by myself.”  
“I could braid it for you like Grandma used to.” Her mother caressed her cheek.  
Carina paused and took a deep breath, “Don’t be silly mother. Please.” and kissed her mother’s palm. After her mother had reluctantly cut off about two and half feet of Carina’s hair, Carina returned to her room and packed a bag. She slung the bag over her shoulder and kissed her mother and father goodbye as she made her way back to Grandma’s house for the first time since she had passed. With Grandma gone Carina had taken it upon herself to fill the role as the new village healer. Listening to the guidance of her stars, she tidied up the house and made sure all the herbs were in their proper places in the cabinet ready to help the people of the village.  
It did not take long for the people of the village to accept Carina in her new role as healer. As a teenager, Carina had assisted Grandma with the healing for years and the villagers were rather quick to trust her abilities. With every young boy fallen ill, every pregnant mother, every fading elder, both Carina and her stars learned and grew. Once every week she visited home and recounted her adventures to her parents over dinner, like she used to as a child. With each passing day Carina felt her healing abilities grow in strength, she found that it was easier to know what herbs to mix or what crystals to use for each situation, even ones that she had not previously encountered while working alongside Grandma. She began to grow very close to many of the families she helped especially one family with a chronically ill son. The first time she met Adam his mother explained that he had been a weak boy ever since he was born and due to this his stars had always shined weakly within him. Carina’s stars told her there was no curing him, just keeping him healthy enough to support his stars for as long as he could, but Carina did not like that answer. Every week when Adam and his family came for healing, Carina tried a new combination of treatments; she was convinced that there must be some way to heal this boy. Carina grew increasingly attached to Adam and spent much of her free time attempting to discover a cure for him despite her stars incessantly warning her that Adam was incurable. During one of Adam’s visits Carina felt her knees begin to give out and she had to sit down.  
“Are you okay Carina?” Adam’s mother asked.  
“Yes yes,” Carina paused. “I, uh, just didn't get a lot of sleep last night.”  
Carina was confused and concerned but just brushed the incident off as nothing more than fatigue and finished up with Adam’s session. The next morning when Carina awoke and sat up in bed she became very lightheaded and had to lie back down. Carina felt sluggish and fuzzy-headed all morning, she found herself distracted and zoning out multiple times. “Maybe I’m just sick.” She thought. “I must have caught something.” Carina felt her way to the healing cabinet and grabbed a couple of herbs. She mixed them together with a bit of lemon oil and dabbed the potion just below her jaw on her neck and on her chest. No one came in for healing that day so Carina tried to take it easy and rest in order to get over whatever was ailing her.  
Carina continued to feel weak for the next couple days but still tried to help all who needed her while trying to heal herself, until one morning she woke up and couldn't get out of bed. It was this morning when she realized that she could barely hear the voices of the stars anymore as they had quieted to a whisper. Carina immediately started to panic, “Why can’t I hear my stars? What could I have caught? Why aren’t any of my healing practices working?” She let her head fall back onto her pillow and tried desperately to calm her breathing when she heard a faint, “Stop.” She listened intently attempting to catch more of the message but the voice faded. Concerned that the star was trying to warn her of someone that needed help, Carina mustered up enough strength to climb out of bed and walk to the healing cabinet. She started to mix a little more of the lemon oil potion to try and bring up her strength but before she could finish she became dizzy and her ears started to ring.  
* * * * * * * *  
Carina awoke and found herself in her bed at home, confused, she sat up and was instantly dizzy. Just then Carina heard her mother in the doorway. “Oh you're awake! How are you feeling, honey?”  
“Uh, dizzy. Why am I at home? What happened?”  
“You didn't come home for dinner and so I went to check on you and found you passed out in front of Grandma’s cabinet.”  
“What? How long have I been here?”  
“Three days—”  
“Three days? I’ve been asleep for three whole days? What about the villagers? What about Adam? I need to—” Carina’s dizziness returned and she lay back down.  
“Carina, honey, I’m worried about you. Last time you came for dinner you were pale and the stars in your eyes seemed dulled but you assured me you just had a cold. And then I find you passed out alone. You could have hurt yourself! What’s really wrong?”  
“I-I don’t know mother, I thought it was just a cold but none of my healing methods seemed to help… I’m afraid mother.”  
Carina’s mother pulled her into a tight embrace and assured her everything was going to be okay, that she was going to make it through whatever this was.  
“Please take it easy and rest for a while sweetie.”  
“Mother, wait, can you at least make sure that Adam is doing alright?” Carina pleaded.  
Her mother chuckled, “Always looking out for others before yourself.”  
“Mother, please.”  
“Of course honey, now please rest.”  
After Carina heard her mother pull the door shut she let out a quiet sob, her mother said everything was going to turn out alright but she wasn't so sure. She was admittedly more concerned that Adam would fade without her weekly treatments than she was about her own condition. “Mother is right, I need to try and calm down and rest.” She thought to herself. “I can’t help Adam in this condition, I need to regain my strength first.” Carina closed her eyes and took a deep breath when she heard a whispered, “Stop.” The same voice as before she fainted. She furrowed her brow and tried to focus on the voice and the message.  
“Stop…healing…”  
“What? Why would I stop healing?” Carina whispered aloud.  
“Too much energy…need to conserve…replenish. Abilities…not boundless.”  
“I don’t understand. I’m not healing more people than Grandma did, this didn't happen to Grandma or to me while I was helping Grandma.” She was speaking at full volume now.  
“…Can’t cure Adam.”  
“I know that! You’ve told me countless times! You aren't making any sense! Can I fix this or not?” Tears began to fall from her eyes once more.  
“Shhhhh child…listen…we warned…is no cure…stop trying. All…energy spent on…impossible.”  
“It just hurts to see him like that,” she cried. “I want to help him, to save him.”  
Just then Carina heard the doorknob turn and wiped her tear stained cheeks with the back of her hand.  
“Honey! What’s wrong?”  
“I just w-wanted to help him, Mother.”  
“I know I know honey, but sometimes there’s nothing you can do and you have to accept that. It’s not your fault.”  
Carina sensed something else in her mother’s voice. “Wait, did you see him? Is he okay?”  
“Carina…”  
“I need to know he's okay Mother!”  
Her mother let out a deep sigh, “He’s still alive but he’s fading fast. His family is preparing for the worst.”  
“Oh my god this is my fault!”  
“No honey it’s not—”  
With tears streaming down her face Carina turned her head up towards the sky and shouted at the stars, “Please! Please let me help him! I promise not to try and cure him anymore! Please! How can I fix this?”  
“We recognize your plea, your good intentions, and your hurt.” The stars replied in a chorus of synchronized whispers. “We shall grant you enough strength to help the boy, but the rest you must do on your own.”  
Carina closed her eyes and inhaled deeply feeling the stars and their gifted energies building and swirling within her. When her eyes snapped open her mother sounded startled and asked what had happened. “What did you say? What did they say?”  
Carina turned to her mother, “Come with me to Grandma’s”  
As her mother grabbed both of their coats and shoes she mentioned that she had never seen Carina’s eyes shine so bright before, that something had changed.  
Once Carina and her mother arrived at Grandma’s, Carina instructed her mother to grab the crystal bag while she collected various bottles of herbs. From Grandma’s they made their way to Adam’s family home. Adam’s mother opened the door, “Carina! But your mother said—”  
“Where is Adam? He needs my help.”  
Adam’s mother guided Carina to a back room and informed her that he was worse than she'd ever seen. Both Carina’s mother and Adam’s mother stood in the doorway as they watched Carina work. She placed crystals around his head on the pillow and mixed together three separate potions. She dabbed one on his forehead, she rubbed one on his chest, and then spooned a little bit of the last into Adam’s mouth. She gently placed one hand on top of his head and the other over his heart and stayed there silently for a moment. When she was finished she quietly packed her things and turned towards the pair of concerned mothers. “Now, we wait. After resting for a bit he should come to.”  
The three ladies went out into the kitchen and waited expectantly in the suffocating silence. After what seemed like eons had passed, a small cough sounded from Adam’s room breaking the silence, and his mother hurried to check on him. Shortly, she returned to the kitchen and whispered, “Carina, he’s asking for you.”  
“Carina are you okay?” Adam asked faintly once she entered the room. “Mom said you were sick and that’s why we didn’t go see you.”  
“I’m fine, Adam” Carina laughed with tears in her eyes. “I was trying to do the impossible and I wasn’t caring for myself the way I care for others. But, you’re asking if I’m okay? I’m just glad you’re okay, you really scared us there Adam.”  
“Really,” Adam’s mother chimed in. “I can’t thank you enough Carina. We really thought we were going to lose him.”  
* * * * * * * *  
Carina soon returned to her position as the healer of the village and she made sure to listen to her stars and heed their warnings. She realized how stupid she had been to try and prove beings as old and wise as the stars wrong. She paid close attention to the amount of energy she was expending and took adequate time to replenish herself, she’d never been more terrified than when her stars began to fade and she was not about to let that happen again. She couldn't risk leaving Adam alone again, he deserved to thrive, deserved to shine as bright as he could. Since Carina spent so much time with Adam she also began teaching him the language of the stars as Grandma had taught her, he had heard her talking to the stars one day and was immediately curious. Carina enjoyed being able pass on the gift that Grandma had given her. She had also found that Adam’s stars knew best what he needed and with Adam learning to understand their voices he was able to keep healthier in between visits with Carina, or Auntie Carina, as he had begun to call her. The new nickname slowly spread throughout the whole village and Carina embraced it with pride; Auntie, an unintentional tribute to Grandma.


End file.
